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Norwich Township will ask taxpayers in May for more money to support fire and EMS operations, a
need driven by growth, higher costs and deficit spending.

Township trustees voted recently to place a 4.12-mill permanent levy on the May 7 primary
ballot. They last asked for a fire levy in 1998, said Larry Earman, trustees chairman.

“We’ve been operating with a surplus in the fire fund, and it would be extinguished this year,”
he said.

If approved, the levy will collect $4 million annually. The current levy generates about $6.65
million annually. Taxpayers would pay an additional $126 a year per $100,000 of home value. They
currently pay $215 per year.

The levy bid has been delayed by about two years, since Norwich began billing for EMS runs,
becoming one of the last Franklin County governments to do so.

“Were it not for the collection of EMS runs, we would have been on the ballot earlier,” Earman
said.

The 86-firefighter department, which also serves Hilliard and Brown Township, grew by seven
positions recently with the opening of a new station on Davidson Road. Its budget this year is
$12.4 million.

“We realize that there are people that won’t support it. Hopefully, the majority will realize we
haven’t asked for an increase in 15 years,” Earman said. “That’s pretty phenomenal.”